Abstract:
Exploring the synergistic development of rural digitalization and greening and clarifying their intrinsic interactive relationship are of great significance for promoting their deep synergy and comprehensive rural revitalization. Based on panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2012 to 2023, this study measures the synergistic development level of rural digitalization and greening using a coupling coordination degree model. It further analyzes the spatial differences and sources of this synergistic development level using the Dagum Gini coefficient, and constructs a PVAR model to examine the interactive relationship between the two. The results show that: 1) The synergistic development level of rural digitalization and greening has been continuously rising, transitioning from mild imbalance to a barely coordinated stage overall, exhibiting a gradient distribution pattern of “eastern > central > northeastern > western”. 2) The synergistic development level of rural digitalization and greening shows significant spatial differences, which primarily originate from inter-regional disparities. 3) Rural digitalization has a strong self-reinforcing effect, while the self-promoting effect of rural greening is relatively weak. Although the two systems promote each other, their mutual contribution rates are low, and fluctuations in each primarily stem from their own influences. Based on these findings, it is recommended to comprehensively enhance the development levels of rural digitalization and greening across the production, living, and ecological domains, formulate differentiated strategies that integrate internal and external actions to address inter-regional and intra-regional development imbalances, and improve the synergistic development mechanism to foster a pattern of mutually beneficial and reinforcing interaction between the two.